Be a Patriot (Not a Parrot)

Taking care of your neighbor isn’t socialism. It’s American.

President Trump signing the "big beautiful bill." Screenshot via CBSNews.com.

I detest bullies. Pardon the graphic image, but frankly, when I see it happening, I want to break their face. And one of the biggest problems I see today is that far too many bullies are turning their bullying into law. Any dissent, even within their own ranks, triggers a personal attack. That’s exactly what the “Big Beautiful Bill” that Congress just passed is: a law that bullies the less fortunate for the benefit of the wealthiest amongst us. It’s a masterclass in cruelty disguised as policy.

In my hometown of Bucks County, 10,823 of my neighbors will lose their health insurance because of this bill’s Medicaid cuts. To qualify for Medicaid, you need to be below the federal poverty level. For a family of four, that’s less than $62,400 a year. For one person, less than $30,120. 

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) the bottom 10% of income earners in America will suffer a  3.9% cut to their bottom line, roughly a $1600/year cut, while taxpayers in the top 10% will earn a 2.3% increase, receiving $12,000 more in their pocket or more. So, if you make $50K/year, that’s almost a $2K cut and if you make a million, that’s a $39K more cash in after-tax income in your pocket ( via CNBC).  That’s a massive redistribution of wealth at a time when folks can’t afford it, and a bill that adds another $3.3 trillion to our national debt to pay for it, according to the nonpartisan Penn Wharton Budget Model. (the CBO scores it as adding $3.4 trillion.) (Data from Fox Business). 

Trump Squandered Democratic Success

Republicans claim that we cannot afford Medicaid, SNAP, or rural support programs, lifelines that keep millions of American working families afloat.

But in the same bill, they hand out tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy while raising the tax burden on the working and middle class. We’re spending more on the President’s boondoggle policies and cutting what actually works and benefits the American people. This is not fiscal responsibility. It’s fiscal hypocrisy.

In Trump’s first term, he inherited 75 straight months of job growth from President Obama, unemployment had fallen to just 4.7%, gas prices were $2.25 a gallon, the S&P 500 went up nearly 70%, and we were decreasing our deficit spending year after year. . Most importantly, we took care of our neighbors, as the Affordable Care Act provided 20 million more Americans with quality healthcare coverage. Under his Big Harmful Bill, over 11.8 million Americans will lose their healthcare coverage, leaving them with crippling medical debt and destroying rural hospitals and community clinics who cannot survive the loss of coverage. (via CBO & Factcheck.org)

A National Debt Bomb We Can’t Afford

Under the Big Beautiful Bill, the national debt will increase by over $3.3 trillion over the next 10 years, on top of the $8 trillion President Trump added in his first term. This is a debt bomb we cannot afford. 

I’ve been critical of national debt increases before. When I first ran for elected office in Bucks County, I criticized Congress for earmarking $500K in federal dollars for a teapot museum in North Carolina. After winning, we got rid of all earmarks.  Here’s one of my first speeches as a 33-year-old congressman, still talking about our $9 trillion in debt in 2007.

Lots of my Republican colleagues joined me in this criticism.

After all, being a patriot means giving an honest assessment of your party and calling it like you see it. Did President Biden increase the national debt? Yes. But here’s the difference: his signature laws— the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill— were investments in the American people that were a net positive for the economy and for American families. They created jobs, strengthened supply chains, and rebuilt crumbling roads and bridges. Even if you combined all three of President Biden’s achievements, the cost does not even approach the mountain of debt the Big Harmful Bill will create.

Of course we should do everything we can to protect taxpayer dollars. I believed that when I served in Congress and passed the IMPROVE Act to crack down on wasteful government spending. But ending Medicaid, SNAP, and other core programs millions of Americans rely on to give a tax break to billionaires is not fiscal responsibility. It’s bullying. And it’s exploitation and betrayal of the working class he claimed to champion in his campaign. 

Don’t Be A Lemming

In the Army, we have a saying, “loyalty above all else except honor.” Our current times remind me of lemmings— small Arctic rodents who, according to popular myth, follow each other blindly off cliffs. My humble recommendation: don’t be a lemming. Or a parrot, for that matter.

To my friends and readers on the other side of the aisle: Is this the direction you want the country to be going in? Recent Fox News polling shows that 85% of Republican voters feel patriotic, up 30% from just a year ago when President Biden was in office. But when you take a closer look, grocery prices are higher. Gas prices are still up. Russia is on the move with no end to the war in sight, and they just launched their largest drone strikes against Ukraine ever. All that changed this past year was the party occupying the Oval Office. I’m not asking you to switch parties, but don’t check your common sense at the door.

My Wharton Business School colleague Adam Grant brilliantly wrote on X, “Too many people recognize their opinions as feelings, but mistake their beliefs for facts. Closed minds hold truths to be self-evident. Open minds are willing to question even strongly held views. Lifelong learning requires the courage to challenge our own convictions.”

More specifically, don’t back policies that hurt working families, gut healthcare and rural hospitals, and reward billionaires when we can least afford it, just because your party is in power. That’s not patriotism. That’s partisanship at its worst.

— Patrick

The Honorable Patrick J. Murphy is a Wharton lecturer, Vetrepreneur, and the 32nd Army Under Secretary after earning the Bronze Star for service in Baghdad, Iraq as an All-American with the 82nd Airborne Division—@PatrickMurphyPA on Instagram and Twitter.